Book launches and reviews, Spring 2003
Southwell and Nottinghamshire: Medieval art, architecture and industry
Southwell Minster
and the medieval buildings of Nottinghamshire have received little scholarly
interest since the 19th century and the British Archaeological Association
Conference held in July 1995 provided a stimulus for a new generation of
art historians and archaeologists to examine these buildings. Lectures
presented at the conference have now been brought together as articles
in a new volume as well as papers written from presentations on site. These
studies explore the architectural and sculptural background of Southwell
Minster, establishing the sources for its Romanesque crossing capitals
in manuscript illustrations and demonstrating the form of the lost original
east end from an archaeological analysis of the fabric. New insights are
offered into the work of the Gothic masons, examining the connections with
buildings in the West Country and the Midlands and, by using the masons’ marks,
demonstrating the sequence of the choir’s construction. The intemationally
important Chapter House carvings, made famous in Pevsner’s Leaves
of Southwell, are also featured. Other important papers consider the abbeys
of Worksop and Rufford, the font at Lenton, the crypt at Newark and the
two major medieval industries of alabaster carving and bell-founding. Southwell
and Nottinghamshire. Medieval Art, Architecture and Industry is edited
by Jennifer Alexander and can be obtained from W.S. Maney &
Son Ltd, Hudson Road, Leeds, L59 7DL, price £32 paperbound, £43
clothbound.
Sanctity and scandal: the medieval religious houses of Nottinghamshire
A new history
of all the various medieval monastic houses in Nottinghamshire has appeared,
the first comprehensive account since the Victoria County History at the
beginning of the 20th century. The story of each religious house has been
written by different authors associated with the Department of Continuing
Education at the University of Nottingham. The social as well as the religious
aspects of monastic life down to their Dissolution are dealt with, as well
as information on the physical remains, where appropriate, still to be
seen today. Sanctity and Scandal is edited by David Marcombe and
John Hamilton and is available from bookshops or direct from the Continuing
Education Press, University of Nottingham, NG2 2RD price £8.95 (plus
p.
& p.).
Book launches and reviews
East Bridgford Local History Group
Images of East Bridgford: the Twentieth Century in Photographs (East Bridgford Local History Group, 2000). Copies available from Mr W. Whitaker, 21 Walnut Tree Lane, East Bridgford, Nottingham, NG13 8NN (tel. 01949 20982). Price £6 including p&p.
The East Bridgford Local History Group was established in the summer of 1999 with the intention of producing a history of the village in the 20th-century. This proved a little too ambitious! But, with a grant from the Millennium Festival Awards for All Scheme, they have produced an excellent collection of (well captioned) photographs illustrating many themes of 20th-century life. East Bridgford has been transformed in the twentieth century, and particularly since 1945, from an agricultural village to a commuter suburb of Nottingham. Orchard and pasture have disappeared under roads and houses. Consequently this book is a timely record of what has changed in the village since, as the authors note, ‘East Bridgford today would be unrecognisable to our forefathers’. We must hope the Local History Group can go on to fulfil its 1999 ambition, but meanwhile this is an excellent way of recording change in East Bridgford over the past century.
John Beckett
On the Trail of the Pilgrim Fathers
A new account of the Pilgrim Fathers and their journey to the New World, together with a visitor guide to sites of interest in England and the US, has been produced by J Keith Cheetham. It was given its launch in Worksop Library earlier in the year. Priced £7.99, it can be obtained from bookshops or from the publishers - Luath Press Ltd, 543/2 Castlehill, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 2ND – www.luath.co.uk
Sanderson's Map of Twenty Miles round Mansfield, 1835.
